October Archives

My good friend Kevin Larrabee, of The Fitcast has a goal of raising $1000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. So far he has raised $200 and is offering a sweet deal on The Fitcast Insider (interviews include Alwyn Cosgrove, Mike Boyle, Bill Hartman, Dan John, Jimmy Smith, Cassandra Forsythe, among others). Check it out here

Instead of buying all that candy today, how bout using that money for a good cause? Last time I checked tooth decay isn’t a good cause.

Side Note: I had a new article published yesterday on Testosterone Magazine (t-nation.com), titled “Training Disasters.” In it, I discuss some of the more common mistakes (ie: disasters) that many people fall prey to with their own training. Check it out: here

I read a lot of books. Specifically I read a lot of books related to the fitness/nutrition industry. And while most make me want to vomit in my mouth, occasionally I come across one that really impresses me. One such books is The TNT Diet, written by Jeff Volek and Adam Campbell. Dr. Volek is a professor at the University of Connecticut and has been a long time advocate of low-carb diets and their efficacy towards fat loss (notice I didn’t say weight loss). Adam Campbell is a features editor of Mens Health and is a handsome devil (I hate him).

What I like best about this particular book is that it’s written by two guys who actually train and have experience under the bar. Matter of fact, Dr. Volek was a competitive powerlifter not too long ago. Walk down the health/fitness aisle at your local Barnes and Noble and peruse the covers of many of the books. I’m normally not the type of person to judge a book by its cover, but come on…..Dr. Phil? I doubt the man has ever lifted a weight in his life.

Nonetheless, the “TNT” in The TNT Diet stands for Targeted Nutritional Tactics. Essentially the book entails specific nutrition (and exercise, which is very important because most diet books never mention resistance training) strategies that enable “you” to reach your body composition goals as fast as possible. Notice the word body composition and not weight loss.

Most diet books focus only on weight loss, which is a major mistake. Research on dieters show that 75% of their weight loss is fat (great) and the other 25% is muscle (not so great). The TNT Diet focuses specifically on fat loss, while maintaining or even GAINING muscle, which bodes well from a body composition standpoint, as well as overall health (improve cholesterol profile, improve triglyceride profile, cut down risk for heart disease, lower blood sugar, ect). I won’t go into the details here, but suffice it to say it’s refreshing to actually read a mainstream diet book that focus on body composition and not just weight loss.

Also, what differentiates this book from other dieting books is that is goes out of it’s way to debunk many of the common myths that have been perpetuated by the media and “fitness/health experts” throughout the years.

1. The Food Guide Pyramid (yes even the new MyPyramid) stinks.

2. High(er) protein diets will not cause your kidneys to explode.

3. Saturated fat is actually healthier for you than you think and increasing your intake (while decreasing intake of processed foods) will actually DECREASE your risk of heart disease.

All in all, I definitely recommend this book.

Walk into any gym and what will you see? The same people, doing the same exercises……..all………the……….time. Oh, and lets not forget the guy who wears spandex while he trains. Note to that guy: we can see your twig and berries. No one wants to see that. Please stop, like yesterday.

Regardless, people tend to perform the same exercises day after day. Today I am starting a series titled “exercises you should be doing.” The basic premise is to showcase exercises/movements that you don’t see everyday at your local gym.

In my opinion, the pull-through is one of the more under-rated movements out there. I feel it’s a movement that everyone should perform, yet I look around and the only people who do them are myself and the clients whom I work with. Why is it such an under-rated and under used exercise? One reason could be the fact that one looks as if they’re humping an elephant while performing it. But I feel the main culprit is that it’s almost too simple of an exercise.

Ask any “hardcore” gym rat what movements he or she performs in the gym and you’re apt to hear squats, deadlifts, lunges, pull-ups, bench press, or various rows. Very rarely do you hear the pull-through getting any love outside of the powerlifting ranks.

Lets look at the reasons why I feel it’s such a valuable movement.

1. First and foremost, it’s a superb tool to teach people how keep a neutral back and to learn to dissociate their hips from their lumbar spine.

2. Secondly, there is little to no external load on the spine. I am able to train a client’s posterior chain without putting any additional stress on their lumbar spine, which makes it a perfect movement for those who have a history of back pain.

3. Thirdly. Women, pay attention. Pull-throughs hammer the glutes like no other movement. Want a nice behind? Do pull-throughs.

I am surprised that more trainers or trainees do not utilize this movement more.

Key Points to Remember:

1. Think of the movement as going back and forth, not up and down.

2. Push your hips back with your chest high and while maintaining a neutral spine (you should feel the brunt of your weight shift back into your heels).

3. Your hands are just “extensions” of the movement. You should not pull the weight back up with your hands. Rather, use your hips.

4. Always end with hip extension (squeeze your butt).

5. Fear not the weird looks. At least you’re not wearing spandex

Today: the Pull-Through

Some random things that people should know, but don’t.

1. Train Barefoot: At Cressey Performance we have all our clients, whether they’re athletes or normal weekend warriors train barefoot 75% of the time. Most people wear Nike Shocks, boots, of high heeled shoes all the time, and as a result, sacrifice a lot of ankle mobility. By training barefoot, we re-learn how to use all of those small, intrinsic muscles of the foot and gain back much of the ankle mobility that was lost.

All of our clients perform their warm-ups barefoot and everyone deadlifts and box squats barefoot.

I usually see an instant increase in the amount of weight someone can pull when they take their shoes off. Why? Well for starters, by taking your shoes off you’re now 1-2 inches closer to the ground, which is 1-2 inches LESS the bar has to travel. Secondly, by taking your shoes off you’re now able to pull through your heels, and as a result recruit more of your glutes and hamstrings to help out. Thirdly, people will automatically think you’re awesome cause you’re training with no shoes on. Unless of course your feet smell like you’ve been walking through a sewer all day, then that’s definitely not awesome.

2. Yoga is Not Great For the Lower Back

I’ve written in the past on why I feel yoga is an inferior form of exercise in regards to body composition. However, what’s worse is that many people will start using yoga to help their lower back pain.

It’s interesting to note that rotation does indeed occur at each segment of the spine from the top of the tailbone (L5-S1) up to the base of the neck (T1-2). However we’re only supposed to get roughly 2 degrees of rotation per segment in the lumbar spine (L5-S1), compared to 8-10 degrees of rotation per segment in the thoracic and cervical spine.

As you can see, more rotation should occur in the upper half of the spine compared to the lower spine. Unfortunately there are many positions in yoga which promote MORE rotation in the lumbar spine then there should be. Ouch. Like it or not, yoga may in fact only be exacerbating your problems, not helping.

3. Protein and Your Bones: It’s important to note that inadequate protein intake is not only suboptimal from a body composition standpoint, but it’s also detrimental to bone; intake at the RDA level (0.8g/kg/d) and below (which many people, particularly women ingest) has been shown to elevate serum parathyroid hormone (PTH), an indicator of the mobilization of calcium and phosphorous from bone.”

***Kerstetter, JE, et al. A threshold for low-protein diet induced elevations in parathyroid hormone. American Journal of Clininal Nutrition. 2000; 72:168-73

I won’t be the first to note that the RDA has missed the boat (repeatedly) in regards to their dietary recommendations, and protein is no exception. The first thing people need to realize is that most of the RDA’s recommendations are to prevent deficiency (ie: to stave off death). I, along with many of my colleagues have long been an advocate of high(er) protein diets. Especially for those who are athletes or who live “active” lifestyles.

4. Don’t Load Your Spine First Thing in the AM:

Ever notice that it’s substantially harder to round your back in the morning than it is in the evening? Our spine is longer in the morning and full of fluid (water in the spine), which results in a narrower space between the lumbar vertebrae, making it easier to herniate a disc or cause injury to the facet joints.

Performing movements that directly load or put stress on the spine (crunches, squats, goodmornings, deadlifts) aren’t a good idea to do first upon rising. Instead, wait about 45-60 minutes AFTER waking up to perform such movements. This mainly applies to those who have home gyms and like to train before work. In doing so, you will allow ample time for your spine to “dehydrate,” and be less likely to injure yourself.

5. Britney Spears is the worst mother ever: lets be honest, a rabid raccoon would make a better mother than Britney Spears.

In his book, “Girth Control,” nutritionist Alan Aragon reviews some of the more popular fad diets that have been popularized in recent years. Today, I’d like to review “The Zone” diet by Dr. Barry Sears using a mix-n-match of both Alan’s thoughts and mine.

Enter the Zone

Author’s Credentials: Barry Sears, PhD, is a former MIT staffer, who holds 12 patents on intravenous cancer drug delivery systems.

Summary: 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, 30% fat – every meal must be constructed this way in order to stick to the plan. The aim is to control insulin levels to combat body fat storage and prevent the overproduction of “bad” eicosanoids. Foods with high glycemic index are viewed as obesity agents.

Pros: It decriminalizes dietary fat, and recognizes the health benefits of monounsaturated fatty acids like those in olive oil. As much of an oxymoron as it may sound, you have to eat fat to lose fat and Sears does a fantastic job at espousing the many benefits of including more “healthy” fats into your diet. Some interesting light is shed on the autocrine, paracrine, and endocrine systems that play major roles in governing the body’s physiology. It is not strict on total carbohydrate restriction as other diets, which preserves some of the sanity of the dieter.

Cons: This plan is very difficult to follow since it involves the constant precise combining of macronutrients in a specific ratio. In a nutshell, not many people have the time (or patience) to make sure that every meals consists of 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat.

When someone places protein, carbohydrate, or fat requirements in terms of percentages for a diet, it doesn’t necessarily have any relevance to what that person actually needs. A diet consisting of 30% protein may be too little for one person (ingesting only 1000 kcals per day) and too high for someone else (ingesting 5000 kcals per day). Granted this is an extreme example, but hopefully you get my point.

Using the above example, someone who “needs” 150 grams of protein would only be ingesting 75 grams of protein per day on a 1000 kcal per day diet (half of what he actually needs), and 375 grams of protein per day (more than double what he needs) on a 5000 kcal per day diet (again, assuming 30% protein).

Additionally, many diets are often labeled “high carbohydrate or high fat” when a specific macronutrient is over a certain percentage. Most dieticians would be quick to label a diet consisting of 35% fat as “high fat.” However, if we were to take a 2000 kcal diet (with 35% of calories coming from fat) and add 200 grams (800 kcals) of carbohydrate to it without changing anything else (total calories are now 2800), a “high-fat” diet all of a sudden becomes a “low-fat” diet because the percentage of fat dropped from 35% to 25%, even though total grams of fat stayed the same.

Lastly, Sears overlooks many aspects of glycemic and insulinemic responses as they relate to varying physiologic states (ie: training, post-training, hypocaloric, hypercaloric, etc) that either conflict with, or do not apply to his plan.

Example: it’s been shown in numerous studies that when total calories are decreased (usually in the form of carbohydrate restriction), protein requirements do indeed go up. The Zone doesn’t take this into consideration. Conversely, when someone is hypercaloric (and hence taking in more carbs), protein requirements decrease since carbohydrates are protein “sparing.”

Conclusions: All in all, this is actually a healthy plan (granted the imposed caloric deficit is not severe), but it overlooks certain principles of glycemic response, and each meal being the same macronutrient composition makes it difficult to follow long-term.

A week never goes by where I don’t hear the above quote at least once from a client.

Young athletes always ask me what they should be eating on a daily basis, and inevitably I will mutter cottage cheese. You would think I was telling them to eat battery acid from a car based upon some of the reactions I get.

I’m going to make this simple: as an athlete you will come to a point in the very near future when you will eat dirt if it meant that it would help you get better in your respective sport. If it means drinking cottage cheese through a straw, then so be it.

The same can be said for those who are just looking to shed some fat and look better naked. The sooner you accept the fact that there are certain “staple” foods that you should be eating everyday, the better off you will be. Ask any person who is already lean, and I can guarantee you (s)he is eating the same foods everyday: cottage cheese, lots of fruits and vegetables, chicken breast, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, lean red meat, mixed nuts, etc. It’s just the way it is. Suck it up buttercup and eat your darn cottage cheese.

This is an awesome recipe I stole from my friend Mike Roussell that includes cottage cheese. This is a perfect mid-AM/PM snack that’s high in fiber, protein, and “healthy” fats.

1/2 cup canned Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix….PLAIN pumpkin)

1/2 cup cottage cheese (for those who don’t like the lumpy texture, you can use a hand mixer to puree the cottage cheese)

1/2-1 scoop of Vanilla Metabolic Drive protein powder

1 oz (handful) of crushed walnuts

2-4 shakes of ground cinnamon

Stir up in a bowl and enjoy. You’ll swear you’re eating pumpkin pie.

I hear the above quote a lot and it fascinates me. Men are the main culprit, who despite the fact that they want to put on some more size and have always struggled to do so, never train their legs.

Helllooooo!?!?!?! 70% of your total muscle mass is below the waist. My girlfriend knows what I’m talkin about….(wink wink, nudge nudge). What? I have decent sized legs! Get your mind out of the gutter. Sheesh

I just have no pity for guys who have struggled to reach their physique goals, yet fail to train more than half their body. And please don’t use the excuse that you run on the treadmill and that is all you need for leg training. It’s utter nonsense, and you deserve a lifetime of watching Ben Affleck movies for saying something so absurd.

#1. Running on a treadmill targets type I muscle fibers (slow twitch), which incidentally, have the least potential for growth. Hence why you never see a guy who does a lot of running with decent leg development. Sure he may have some definition, but his legs still look like wet noodles.

#2. Running on a treadmill is at the complete opposite end of the fitness spectrum in regards to putting on weight (and size). This is why men whose leg training entails a lot of running have a hard time putting on weight.

#3. Running on a treadmill is about as exciting as watching a marathon of “The Golden Girls” on TBS.

Fellas, if you want to put on some mass, you have to train your legs. And no I am not referring to leg extensions, leg curls, and leg pressess. Squats and deadlifts, as well as tons of single leg work. Time and time again, I have seen guys add 15-20 lbs of solid lean mass onto their frame just by adding a healthy dose of rack pulls (partial deadlifts) to their training repertoire. Seriously, quit being a wimp.

End rant

This is my girlfriend Katlyn. She deadlifted 215, 230, and 250 lbs last night (the video link below shows her 250 lbs pull). All of this AFTER she performed her regular training routine. Less than a year ago (or what I like to call the Pre-Tony era) she had never attempted a deadlift in her life. Not only does she lift appreciable weights, but she actually likes it! And guess what? She still looks like a girl.

Let this be a lesson to all the women who read this blog. Lifting heavy weights will not make you “big and bulky.” Eating bagels and drinking Starbucks (aka: liquid McDonalds) for breakfast everyday makes you “big and bulky.”

There are a handful of “things” that people need more of in their daily lives.

People need more:

1. Healthy fats; particularly fish oil (more on this below).

2. Time away from the television. My girlfriend and I actually have “unplugged night” once per week where we turn off the tv and just hang out together. She has yet to beat me in Stratego.

3. Vegetables. And no, that one piece of lettuce you have on your sandwich everyday at 1PM doesn’t count. On any given day I eat an entire bag of frozen vegetables and an entire bag of spinach. Listen to your mother, eat your veggies.

4. Exercise. If you have time to watch every season premiere on television, you have time to squeeze in 3-5 hours per week to train.

5. Cowbell. Who doesn’t need more cowbell?

It’s no secret that fish oil should be a staple in EVERYONE’s diet (read: this means YOU). Normally I am not a big fan of advocating supplements to the public, but there are a handful of “supplements” that I don’t necessarily consider supplements. (Did that make sense?). Rather, I consider them to be crucial components of a healthy diet: multi-vitamin, protein powder, and fish oil. I also consider Lindsay Lohan to be a talentless waste of space with the brain capacity of a three year old. Seriously, if aliens were to ever come down to Earth and abduct her to perform human experiments, they would probably find a teddy bear where her brain should be. But that’s beside the point.

Back to fish oil…..

If you’re not taking your fish oil for the health benefits alone (and believe me there are literally hundreds), please kindly click the power button on your computer right now and buy some for crying out loud. However be careful of which brand you buy. As my friend nutritionist Mike Roussell has pointed out, when purchasing fish oil it’s important that you buy a PURE and POTENT product.

I agree with him 100% and often recommend that people don’t buy a fish oil supplement that isn’t at least 50% pure. To determine the purity of your fish oil simply divide the amount of combined EPA and DHA (the omega 3’s) by the total amount of fat in the product. Most fish oil products you will find in your local grocery store contain 0.18 g of EPA and 0.12 g of DHA per 1 gram capsule.

0.18+0.12=0.3 grams (or 300 mg) of total omega-3’s (EPA/DHA combined)

0.3/1g (of fat per capsule)=.3 or 30%

Essentially most fish oil supplements found in local drug stores or grocery stores are 30% pure. They’re cheap, but they are potentially loaded with mercury, toxins, and other contaminants. You will have to pay a little more for 50% pure fish oil products, but it’s soooo worth it. As an added bonus, the purer the product is, the less likely you are to experience any fishy after taste or burps.

As an aside, you want to try to get at least 3-6 grams of OMEGA-3’s in your diet per day (not just 3-6 grams of fish oil). Since most fish oil products are at 30% potency, that equates to roughly ten capsules per day. Another advantage of buying a more potent product is that you won’t have to ingest nearly as many capsules to get your daily requirement.